South Korea Lawmakers Hold Budget Talks Before Deadline Tonight

By Cynthia Kim -
Dec 30, 2012

South Korean lawmakers are holding
talks in Seoul ahead of tonight’s deadline to approve the 2013
budget, which may include an increase in welfare spending.

Budget committee lawmakers will convene a meeting at 12
p.m. to reach a deal on the final numbers, which will be
presented to parliament this afternoon, according to Finance
Ministry spokesman Park Chun Sup.

“The budget is expected to be passed tonight,” Park said
by telephone from the ministry in Sejong today. “At the heart
of the talks is the spending on welfare programs. This is taking
up a lot of time, and we’re likely to see some increase.”

Incoming President Park Geun Hye has pledged to spend 131.4
trillion won ($123 billion) on welfare programs including free
childcare and support for the indebted poor over the next five
years. The Finance Ministry on Sept. 25 proposed a 5.3 percent
budget increase for next year and the smallest deficit in six
years.

The budget process has been especially slow this year
because of the Dec. 19 election, said Kang Hyun Gu, a Seoul-
based economist at Hyundai Securities Co. A failure to meet
today’s deadline would temporarily limit the government’s
spending to this year’s level.